Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-08-12
ACROSS TIE ISLAND.
;OBERT P. PORTER'S TRIP OVER
ENGLAND ON A TRICYCLE..
rom Guilford the Journey Is Continued
to Winchester-A Stop at Aldershot,
Town Of Soldiers--An Accident on tho
Road--The Ancient Capital of England.

to Winchester-A stop at Aldershot,
Town of soldiers--An Accident on tho
Road-The Ancient Capital of England.
Especial Correspondence
LONDON, July %.
The Angel at Guilford is one of the most
ancient inns in the kingdom. 1t has good
deal of oak paneling, massive time worn
rafters and a curious crypt beneath. had
been nd vised to take a hot bath after the first |
days exertion, which 1 did on arriving at |
the hotel. After dinner we lighted our cigars
and went out to explore the town. Mr.. Will
son took the precaution to put on the de |
tective," a small instantaneous photographlnG |
apparatus he carried concealed under his
coat in case opportunity should be afforded
for q shot We walked for two hours The |
hot bath had apparently removed all stiff |
ness, and | felt no Inconvenience from the |
trim, except soreness arising from my bruised |
Sims.
The situation of Guilford is perhaps the |
most singular and romantic of any town III
England. 1t lies on the sides of chalk hills,
tlopng down quick to the river, which runs
il narrow channel between them. Indeed
tho inhabitants of the place must become so
accustomed TO these ups and downs that
Lowell walk of fifteen minutes might entirely
set their equilibrium. Like most places /"
10 south of England, Guilford traces its origit
back to tho time of the Saxons Indeed, If !
mistake not, it was here that Harold tortured
and cruelty murdered several hundred Nor
mans who came over with Prince Aefrid, &
claimant for the crown of England Aefrid
| was clapped into a castle and his eyes put out.
| Centuries after that Gulford used to stand
we'll by wool" as the old chroniclers Put it.
| In the time OF Queen Elizabeth its reputation
| for the manufacture of wooden cloth was So
| great that, by an order of the corporation,
every ale house keeper was obliged to have II
| sicnboard with a wool sack painted upon il
! hung at his door, under penalty OF Us. sd. III
case of neglect. This struck mo as Qurer
| idea, but suppose the object was to advertise
the staple industry of the place. If this
| notion was carried out nowadays the signs OF
the gin shops and beer shons of old England
would present more varied and extraordi
nary appearance than they do.
| Apropos of this it may be well to mention
| that the southwestern counties of England
have unusual interest for me, from the fact
that at the beginning of the Eighteenth cen
tury they were the seat of the greatest COM
mercial and manufacturing industry. The
wooden manufacture was chiefly i'll the west
ern counties, as it had been from the time of
Edward VI In the days before steam power
and the application of chemical science to
| manufacture, natural advantages wholly de
| termined the locaZation of trades. On the
! grassy downs and wide plains of this part of
| England innumerable hocks fed. Clothing
towns like Guilford were surrounded by
tributary villages, in the cottages of which
women and children performed the spinning.
Tho clothiers of the towns sent their pack
horses laden with wool and brought back the
spun yarn ready for the weavers loom. How
different all this is from the vast factories in
the coke towns of the north of England.
where cloth is made for the millions of humal
| beings who have become mere automatons
When the seat of the cloth industry was il
the southwestern counties the man set up lis
own loom, stored his soft yarn strained the
warp along his garden walk or by the road
side took the web TO the fulling mill and
afterward to the dyer's. But the old loom is
rapidly passing away. Occasionally during
this trip have met with an old fashioned
weaver, and in future letter some space
will be devoted to the lace makers of Dorset
shire and Devonshire. The world moves
more rapidly now, and old time methods are
looked upon with rreverence, though | some
times think they We're more humane than the
industrial organization OF today.
~.
1t was nearly dusk when from one of the
surrounding hills took a last look at the
towers and spires and turrets of Guilford and
Of the molderng ruins of the castle, and re-
turned to the hotel. That night l dreamed
my legs had assumed an enormous size, and
that on tricycle. of tremendous proportions
| was vainly trying to ride over the barren
hills and craters of the moon.
Next morning we We're up before O'Clock
The sun shone brightly and the sky was a
clear blue Nearly all soreness and stiffness
had disappeared, and felt good for a. least
fifty miles that day. The immediate pros
pect Of brilliant run was not cheering. We
were hemmed in by hills. Our departure
from Gulford was along what is called the
Hogs Back" to Farnham, as we intended to
do little camp life at Aldershot The Hogs
Back" is n curious upthrow of chalk The
guide book informed us that its highest point
is nowhere more than sos feet. 1t took three
miles of solid climbing to reach this point
The view the whole distance was of great ex-
tent on either side, and at times very pic